Late
by TitaniaRising
Summary: Erza was one of those people who was so bold in life, so passionate, so full of the thrill of living and love that it was simply impossible to imagine her being dead.


**Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.**

**Edited 8-2-14. **

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Erza was one of those people who was so bold in life, so passionate, so full of the thrill of living and love that it was simply impossible to imagine her being dead. She was immortal in her strength, invulnerable in her glory.

To Jellal, her unexpected fragility was what first endeared her to him.

When he met her, a scared young girl in the Tower of Heaven, he named her Scarlet because he recognized that behind those kind brown eyes, there was a will of iron. She was Scarlet because she was bold and bright in the darkness of their circumstance, not just because of her red hair.

When he reunited with her in the completed Tower, his mind, darkened by hatred, possessed by "Zeref," was forced into the light by Natsu and her broken body floating in the lacrima sent such terror through him that he jumped in himself to help get her out.

When she appeared through the smoke and ash in front of Nirvana, he knew she would be special before he could even place the name "Erza" onto her. He was scared by her brilliance then.

And finally, when Midnight's darkness couldn't conquer her light and that light, the only light that could, led him out of his own doubt and misery into life as she lived it, he realized he was in love. Yet he was still a coward, still forever afraid that he would lose control, refusing to admit his love and to face hers.

He regretted all this, regretted isolating himself, lying to her about an imaginary fiancée, loathed himself for how distant he was when she so needed him.

And now, now when she could need him no more, when she was quiet and dead in his arms, her eyes so full of kindness before, blank and glazed, he found her. He knew his pleading, voice hoarse in desperation, was hopeless, a blind man trying to find a light in vain. He knew he was too late to protect her from Acnologia's wrath, too late in finding out her suicidal mission with Gildarts and Natsu, too late to go along and help them. Her skin, cool and comforting even now, was proof of that.

His mind couldn't comprehend that Erza could die in such a way. He'd always known she was vulnerable in reality, but he'd never in his wildest dreams, imagined that their time together could be so limited. Her hair was soft in his hand as he stroked the scarlet locks, gently closed her eyes. She was still so beautiful, so impeccable, that he could hardly stand to think about the word "dead."

And yet there was the gaping hole, the claw thrust into her midsection, tearing out her organs, setting forth her blood to flow where it should never flow. The dragon had not cared about how she'd been hoping to tell Jellal what he'd known all along, had not cared how she'd wanted to savor one last strawberry cake with her boisterous friends, how she'd wanted to yell in fear and fury that Natsu had been flung, dead, minutes before her own death had come. Acnologia was the dragon of the apocalypse. Death and destruction were all he cared about.

But Jellal, oh Jellal, who'd visited Fairy Tail so cheerfully days ago, with the news that the Council seemed to be getting off Crime Sorciere's tracks, couldn't handle that Erza wasn't alive to laugh with him on the wooden bar stools at the guild, wasn't alive to make him want to live more than anything else ever could, wasn't alive to romp with Natsu and the others. Jellal couldn't live without the girl who'd haunted the mysterious alleys of his mind with her brilliant smile.

He'd come too late to even hear her last breaths. Now, shaking with grief too deep to allow tears, he gently covered her with his cloak as if keeping her warm in the sharp cold rain that was falling, lifted her into his arms the way he'd always wanted to so she could glare at him in indignity before sweet kisses could ensue. She was lighter now, silenced in death, but a ghost of who she was an hour ago, lashing out at the dragon that had almost destroyed her guild. He walked into the cover of a tree, somehow still standing after the destruction and sat down with her in his lap. He sat rocking her for a time he couldn't determine and didn't care to know until the sun started setting and he started shivering.

Then he slowly stood, eyes clear despite the downpour of tears that were sure to come days later, placed her down in the shade of the tree and walked through the dense undergrowth to find Natsu, crushed under sharp thorns and branches. After he retrieved the dragon slayer, he placed the boy next to Erza, knowing that the two were probably cheering each other up somewhere in the unknown. Then for Gildarts, whose newfound daughter Cana had begged Jellal to bring back when he had told the guild he was going out to rescue the group against the master's and Ultear and Meredy's wishes. He was found lying limp and lifeless behind a boulder which he hadn't been able to shatter, the side of his head a bloody mess. He too was lifted and placed beside his two comrades.

At last, Jellal allowed himself to howl, to roar with the anger and sorrow that rained down on him with the never-ending rain, the sound of a broken man who had lost what was no less than his life itself. _Erza_.


End file.
